The European Union in the Netherlands

Delen |

The influence of the European Union is increasingly present in the working of the Dutch administration and its autonomous bodies. However, government officials often lack a full understanding of the connection between the EU and their national departments. Since European legislation affects their daily work as well, more knowledge and understanding about the Union is required. It is important to familiarize these officials with the Union since it helps them deal with obligations arising from Brussels. Moreover, a better understanding would also result in making more use of the opportunities the Union has to offer. The Netherlands can use developments of other countries to its own advantage, and thus it is an asset to be able to anticipate these events at the European level. Therefore, it is crucial for Dutch officials to understand the workings of the Union and to actively participate at the EU level.

It is against this background that the Europe Unit of HEC merged with the training activities of ROI opleidingen, with the aim of bringing 'Europe to the Netherlands, and the Netherlands to Europe’. In 2009, the Europe Unit HECROI, dedicated itself to assist different governmental officials in familiarizing themselves with the diverse tasks of the EU.

The EU Unit HECROI attempts to let people perceive the EU in three different ways. This is important, because it will help them understand how to deal with the EU. The first is 'shaping the EU’. This refers to the capacity of the Dutch government to lobby EU policy-making according to their own preferences.
Secondly, 'taking the EU’, which refers to the ability of administrations to effectively implement EU policies, in order to maximise the compliance rate. The last is 'sharing the EU’, which is about uploading good practices to the European level, so that other countries are able to learn from them.

The Europe Unit HECROI carries out the following services with these three perspectives in mind.

Services

Advice: The Unit advices relevant public bodies on the development of their own European strategy, and the establishment of their own European department. Additionally, advice is given on the process of implementing specific EU policies.

Monitor: The Unit signals developments at the European level and makes this information available to the clients. The function of these monitors is to inform clients of relevant EU-policy so that they can take appropriate measures, or can assist clients in representing their interests in Brussels.

Best practices: EU membership can be very useful for the learning process. The Netherlands can learn from good practices of other countries when it comes to for example, modernising the administration. HECROI identifies these good practices and analyses them in order to decide whether or not these practices will be applicable in the Dutch context. Naturally, HECROI supports those clients that wish to upload their good practices to the European level.

Academy: The educational side of the Europe Unit focuses on those professionals within the governmental sphere who need training about the EU. There are different kinds of trainings, either open programmes or specific in-company possibilities. The open programmes facilitate a better insight into the European dimension of the policy practice. Participation in this programme is open to all. The in-company programmes are by contrast, designed for specific persons within organisations. These programmes will be created according to the customers’ needs and preferences.

Work visits: The Unit organises work visits for different clients in order to gather insight on approaches and experiences of other countries. The Brussels Club is a specific initiative that aims to familiarize particular Dutch execution bodies with the most important European institutions and specialists. A specific focus is on the area of eGovernment and ICT.

Target group
The Europe Unit HECROI aims to target the following groups: departments of Dutch administrations, local administrations, executive agencies, and programme organisations.